


Sacred Calling

by CelestialMoonDragon



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Sentinel (TV), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22357687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialMoonDragon/pseuds/CelestialMoonDragon
Summary: Eddie didn't have a Sentinel but that wasn't going to stop him.
Relationships: Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote
Comments: 18
Kudos: 159





	1. Prologue: What Makes A Man Different

**Author's Note:**

> Every fandom deserves a Sentinel/Guide AU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This chapter contains mention of Eddie Brock's canon childhood abuse. Nothing really graphic but it is a huge point of the chapter.

Eddie Brock has always been different. This fact was perhaps cliche to say when talking about a Guide, but it was true nonetheless. He was born to Carl and Jamie Brock and had an older sister named Mary. The only hiccup in this normal event was that Jamie did not survive her son's birth. Carl blamed Eddie.

The first sign of Eddie's unusual nature came when he was only five. He was crammed under the dining table, where Carl has left him before leaving for work. He was clutching his ears and crying.

_anger **anger** anger _

The crawling poison of his father's fury seemed to curl up like a monster in the back of his skull. He was too young and too inexperienced to know that it wasn't normal to _feel_ what his father felt. All he knew was that his father hated him and each surge of _anger **hate** disgust _threatened to pull him under like waves on the shore. He hated and feared each interaction with Carl, even as his young heart begged his father to love him the way dads on TV loved their sons. But each blow and each scream shattered the dream and brick by brick, Eddie built a wall between himself and the world around him. 

The second sign came in the last year of middle school. He was sitting sullenly in the back, adjusting his sleeves to hide an ugly, black bruise on his forearm. It was the first day of Sentinel/Guide Studies, a mandatory elective that taught students about their history and was used by the Sentinel/Guide Center as a preliminary screening process for young gifted. Eddie didn't need it. He spent a lot of time at the library to avoid Carl and already knew what he was. He also knew that Guides only came online before puberty as a result of trauma, but pushed the thought away. 

A tiny part of him wanted nothing more than to call attention to himself, to let a big strong sentinel carry him off into the sunset. But his cynicism had been hard-earned and he knew that it didn't matter. Carl would sooner beat him to death himself than let Eddie be happy. Mary had fled earlier in the year, eighteen and finally free. He'd begged her to take him with her, but they both feared Carl too much. Part of him was furious at her even as he celebrated her getting away.

The teacher called to class to order, gesturing at the door,

"This is Dr. Rachael Matterson and her Sentinel Mr. David Matterson. They'll be here all year, teaching us about Sentinels and Guides. Say hello."

The class grumbled and the pretty blonde Guide smiled. Her presence seemed to shine, comfort and safety spilling across the room. The class instantly zeroed in on her. Eddie batted the emotions away from him, determined to sulk as much as possible. School was the only time he got to do so. Carl hated his _attitude_.

The Guide's smile faltered for a moment as she looked around, but she recovered and continued,

"We're here to give you all the long, noble history of our Blessed Protectors. Do you know why else we're here?" 

"To find new sentinels and guides!" yelled a girl on the front row.

"Correct," smiled Dr. Matterson, "Many come online during puberty and it can be a rough time so we try to find them as quickly as possible."

Another boy threw up his hand,

"Do they only come online at puberty?"

"No," she said, "Only about 60% come online at puberty. Many can come online later, although most that do are already registered as 'latent' in our systems. Others don't come online at all but that's usually the result of extreme brain damage."

"Through blood tests, right?" asked the first girl excitedly, "We have to take a blood test, right?"

Dr. Matterson laughed, pulling papers out of her binder,

"You have to have parent permission to take the test, so pass these around. Before we get into that, we should start with our history. Sentinels and Guides have existed as long as human civilization…"

Eddie paid just enough attention to pass any tests. Carl didn't like it when he failed. He liked it even less when Eddie excelled so Eddie had long ago resigned himself to be as average as possible. It wasn't enough to avoid the old drunk's ire but it was one less thing that he could use as an excuse. Not that Carl really needed an excuse.

He took a consent form from the kid in front of him. The paper was long and full of legalese. Carl would never sign it, even if he was ever sober enough to understand it. Eddie grabbed a piece of paper, slowly rewriting the entire document but leaving blank spaces for the words he didn't know. He'd go to the library after school and look them up. He wanted to understand it because he wasn't stupid enough to forge Carl's signature on nonsense. He'd learned that the hard way. Carl had gotten a call from the school offering a special award to Eddie for his perfect reading log record for the year. Eddie had read the books but Carl has never signed the logs. The broken nose from the plaque slamming into his face had taken all summer to heal and was still slightly crooked.

Eddie left the classroom as soon as the bell rang and the permission slip didn't come up again for several days. When it did, he stuttered and pretended that he'd lost it. Dr. Matterson smiled and gave him another copy. He wedged it next to the first and its handwritten copy, now neatly translated into normal English. He didn't get that one signed either. When they asked again, he told them that his father had said no. Dr. Matterson frowned,

"Do you know his phone number? Maybe I could speak to him about it."

Eddie shook his head, feeling like he could crawl out of his own skin. If the school called, Carl would take it out on him.

"No, it's okay. The gene doesn't run in my family and I haven't had any of the symptoms you've told us about so it's fine."

"Are you sure?" She asked, "It's good to know, even if you're not coming online now."

Eddie could feel her eyes on him. Her Sentinel watched like a dark shadow from the wall next to the whiteboard. He stuttered out another excuse and beat a hasty retreat. Hopefully, that would be the end of it.

It wasn't the end of it. Eddie learned that she had called Carl after all when the man told her to mind her own business or he'd sue. It was a Friday so hopefully, the bruises would fade enough by Monday. He told his teachers that he'd gotten into a fight with some kids in his neighborhood. They just rolled their eyes. All of them were used to Eddie by now, with his mediocre grades and 'tendency' toward fights. He wanted to scream at them.

Dr. Matterson frowned at him. He knew she suspected but unless he came forward and told her, she had no real proof. She couldn't see the other bruises. Eddie made sure of that. And unless he blew out and had a sense spike or empathic overload, she couldn't take emergency custody of him through the SGC. The rest of the year was tense, as Eddie resisted every attempt she made to engage him. 

The third sign came four years later. It was nearly the end of his senior year and Eddie knew he was running out of time. Carl had somehow grown angrier and meaner and he knew that the old man would kill him if he didn't escape soon. He hid as much money as he could in a tangled bush behind the library. It wasn't much but every dollar he found or could palm off a classmate went into the battered lunchbox, along with some stolen pictures of his mom and Mary. The beating he'd received when they got 'lost' had been worth it. He had almost $200 bucks now.

Graduation passed without a hitch. Carl didn't show up but that was fine. Eddie took his diploma and school records and put them in a backpack he'd packed with a couple of changes of clothes. He'd already turned 18 so he went home for one last time. Carl was passed out, barely even breathing on the couch. Eddie snuck into his father's office, heart banging in his chest. The old man wasn't smart enough to lock up his legal shit so Eddie riffled through until he found his own stuff. Birth certificate, social security card, immunization records. Everything he would need to prove who he was. Carl snorted on the couch and Eddie froze. When no other sound came, he grabbed everything and left through the front door. He didn't even bother to lock it. Maybe some nut would come in and murder the man in his sleep. 

He went to the library after and grabbed his stash. The nearest corner store had some decent deals on snack bars and bottled water. It took some walking to get to a greyhound terminal but he paid for the furthest ticket he could find. San Francisco sounded as good a place as any. The bus ride was horrid and took almost four days. By the end, he wanted to claw his skin off and scoop out his brain so he wouldn't have to feel other people in it. He couldn't sleep with all the people knocking against his awareness. He stumbled into the bright afternoon sun, smelled the salty air and felt only exhausted relief. Carl wouldn't find him here, even if he cared enough to look for him. He stepped forward, his vision greyed out and the last thing he heard was screaming.

Time passed in a blur. Every step toward consciousness was met with a gentle push, urging him to _rest_. Awareness came to him all at once and he jerked up in what appeared to be a hospital room. But something was off. He looked around, desperate to find what was causing him to feel unsafe. And abruptly, he realized what it was.

He couldn't feel anything. His empathy was shut off. He hated feeling the emotions of those around him more than anything, but it had helped him survive Carl. The sudden absence of that sense was jarring and uncomfortable. The door opened and he briefly registered an intrusive stab of emotion, but it cut off as soon as the door slid shut. A woman came in, dressed in hospital scrubs. He couldn't feel her either, although he could sense the tight mental shield characteristic of a Guide. She stayed by the door until he looked at her.

"Good morning, Mr. Brock. My name is Dr. Emilia Stone."

Eddie tried to say something but his throat felt like sandpaper. She nodded sharply, walking over and pouring a cup of water from a pitcher at his bedside.

"The Guide Trauma Specialist said you would likely wake up today."

"Guide-" he coughed, "Guide Trauma Specialist?"

"Yes, Mr. Brock," she said. He got the sense she disapproved of him, "You blew your shields in the middle of a crowded bus station."

He winced. That answered the question of why his brain felt like one massive bruise, achy and agitated.

"Why?" he asked, sipping more water.

"That's our question," she said, "Considering the poor, haphazard construction of your shields, it's no wonder."

He winced again. This lady definitely didn't like him at all and her spiky judgment was making his headache worse. They were interrupted by a knock on the door. She marched over to it, wrenching it open but whatever she saw made her stop in her tracks. A conversation took place but Eddie was too tired to care what it entailed. Emotions were leaking through the door again and Stone felt like judgy pickaxes banging into his brain matter. After a minute, she left, letting in an older matronly woman instead. The second woman smiled at him, bouncy greying curls framing her face.

"I'm Deborah Young. Call me Debby, please. I'm an SGC Advocate."

"Did I do something wrong?" Eddie asked. Three days of freedom and he was already in trouble. Maybe Carl was right and he did ruin whatever he touched.

"Oh, no, sweety!" she exclaimed, "No, I'm here to advocate _for_ you. We have to wait for Dr. Jones though."

Dr. Jones turned out to be a portly older man and Eddie's doctor. What followed was a confusing explanation about 'empathic bleed' and 'trauma-induced shielding'. What Eddie understood was that his father's overwhelming emotions caused his brain to build shields to protect him, but their uneducated construction made them weak. Exhaustion and malnutrition had been the last tipping point and they'd folded like a stack of cards. 

They asked questions as well and Eddie was too tired to pretend he didn't know what they were asking about. Questions about his bruises and childhood history of 'accidents' were answered without emotion. He'd spent a lifetime protecting Carl, but the old man couldn't hurt him here and he was so tired. They asked him to sign a release form for a new SG gene test. They asked how long he'd been able to sense emotions. The story about hiding under a table at five years old seemed to horrify them both.

Eventually, he began to nod off again. Debbie left her card and he was left alone again to stew in his emotions. The sweet relief he'd felt at leaving was colored by fear and worry. Could Carl find him? Had he hurt somebody? Would the SGC reject him? Surely he was too broken to be worth anything to a Sentinel. Nausea curled in his stomach but he couldn't keep his eyes open. Sleep came, restless and peppered with nightmares.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind. He was moved to the San Francisco SGC. Debby met him there, smiling widely. She gave him pamphlets for group Guide classes. 

"You'll have a personal tutor as well. The Center has also recommended in-house trauma therapy."

He winced. Carl screamed in his head about weakness and 'pansy' behavior.

"Do I have to?" he asked.

She waited until he met her eyes,

"No. We can't force you. But it will help," she grabbed his shoulders, "You're not weak for needing help. Protecting the Tribe means more than defending us against bad guys. It means helping and healing within as well."

He nodded, throat tight. 

The classes were interesting. Some of the stuff he remembered from middle school but other things were brand new. He learned etiquette and how to interact with bonded guides vs unbonded guides. He learned things like the hierarchy of a Pride and how large City Prides tended to form smaller local Prides that answered in turn to the Alpha Sentinel and Alpha Guide. There had been attempts in the '60s to create a ranking system but Prides formed instinctually in a way that didn't necessarily correlate to a scale. Alphas, for example, were always the strongest in an area but not all strong sentinels and guides became Alphas. Whatever quality it was that made Alphas had no known genetic component nor did it always run in families but every Sentinel and Guide could sense them. 

The fascinating classes did not make up for how rough the individual lessons were. Trying to unlearn habits he didn't know he had was draining and the teacher seemed reluctant to touch him mentally. He didn't know why until he heard the man gossiping to an administrative assistant nearly a month into his training.

"Surely the Brock kid is fine? He seems nice," whispered the secretary.

"He is nice. Polite," said his teacher, "But he feels _weird_. Mentally, I mean."

"Weird?" asked the woman, "Like damaged?"

Eddie felt tears gather in his eyes and pressed himself as much against the wall around the corner as he could get.

"No, no!" the teacher replied, "I've helped dozens of traumatized guides. They all feel a bit strange as they grow through their trauma. No, his mentalscape is just strange."

The woman made an inquiring noise but didn't speak. The teacher continued,

"He feels like wet mud. Kinda sticky. Kinda cold. All guides gave a unique mental fingerprint so to speak. But most are like a brush of wind or a field of flowers. I've never felt someone who feels like deep-diving into a mud puddle."

The adult thing to do would be to pretend he hadn't heard anything and continue his classes, but Eddie didn't think he could see the man without reliving the fact that he apparently felt like _dirt_. Trying desperately not to hyperventilate, Eddie stumbled back the way he came. Debby's office wasn't far and she'd know what to do.

Within the week, he had a new teacher. He heard through the gossip mill that the first had been formally reprimanded and transferred away for retraining. He never saw the man again, even years after.

Time marched along while he was sequestered in training and therapy. He meditated and finally formally met the spirit guide that he'd seen more than once as a child, usually when Carl was at his worst. Bernard was perhaps an unimaginative name for the huge polar bear but it was a reminder to himself as much as a description. The Center told him they were building a case against Carl and he couldn't even pretend to be sad a few days later when they told him that the old man had pulled a gun on the arresting officers and been shot. Mary called him and the two estranged siblings made awkward small talk while avoiding the one subject they probably should have talked about. He missed her and knew she suffered just as much as he did but the screaming little boy that felt abandoned made it hard for him to forgive her.

Many exhausted days and sleepless nights later, the SGC formally released him from their custody. It had been almost two years since the day he'd gotten on that bus. He was given instructions to call if he needed anything and to check in regularly, but he was finally free to build a life. He got a proofreading job and attended several SGC events designed to allow single sentinels and guides to meet each other. Legally, they couldn't force him to bond but the jagged, empty hole in his mentalscape that would house the bond made him kind of want to. It has taken time in his training before he'd even noticed the hole in his head. It didn't hurt really but it did leave him with a nagging sense that something was missing. It was something all unbonded sentinels and guides lived with and he almost wished that he never learned about it. Coming online so young had made that space something he had always had and only pointing it out made him notice it. He wasn't sure what kind of Sentinel would want his ass but the romanticism of there being someone out in the world that was meant for him was hard to resist.

He got an apartment and the days and weeks went by. Hope dwindled as one year stretched into two into five. He went to fewer events and got a promotion. He got a couple more and became a real journalist. He stopped going at all after ten years of awkward small talk with Sentinels he didn't feel a connection with. The Center asked him to keep trying but couldn't force him. He met Anne and loved the bright fire of her mind and spirit too much to care that she was mundane and couldn't give him the bond a guide needed. The Eddie Brock Report got off the ground and became an overnight local sensation. Aliens attacked New York and superheroes were real. He betrayed the love of his life for a story and lost her and his job. An alien megalomaniac tried to destroy half the life in the galaxy, stopped only by feuding superheroes and a ripple through the spirit world that caused 89% of the world's bonded pairs to drop everything and travel to an African country newly revealed as a global superpower.

Fifteen years after he got released from SGC and six months after he ruined his own life, he met the fourth and final reason that would make him different.


	2. Chapter 1: Cannibalistic Alien Makes Three

**Eddie, we're hungry.**

"You're always hungry," Eddie snorted. Living with Venom was a surprisingly normal experience. He hadn't expected an advanced alien to be quite so whiny but he suspected that was more a Venom thing. Three months had passed since the rocket explosion. The weeks after were rough. The police wanted answers, his home was ransacked and he couldn't help but relive the moments of Venom's sacrifice over and over. The discovery that the symbiote was alive had caused Eddie to almost blackout in relief but presented new problems. They were exhausted and required more sustenance then he could get between half making up a story for the police and dodging inquiries from the SGC. Anne had really come through for him, including threatening the Life Foundation enough for the surviving board to offer 'compensation for his hardships'. It didn't save their reputation after Carlton Drake was branded a madman for attempting to fly a flawed rocket in space himself.

It was Dan who saved his bacon with the SGC. He apparently had destroyed all results and records of Eddie's medical exam. Since the exam itself had been a personal favor to him, it hadn't gone on official records. If it had, the SGC would have been automatically notified that a guide had checked in. Eddie had no way to explain his catastrophic organ failure and subsequent perfect recovery. The Center still requested he return for counseling after his police mandated exam returned with only minor physical wounds from the explosion. 

Venom's hunger had been its own problem but Dan had come to his rescue again. While nutrition wasn't his specialty, he insisted that careful monitoring would show them what foods Venom responded best to. A methodical sampling of individuals foods and food groups hadn't been fun for Eddie or Venom and the first few days produced few results. Eddie ate a lot of chocolate in the first month of their cohabitation. It left them both irritable and starving, which ended up in their favor. The SGC councilor asked for a second exam in the face of his lethargy and poor attitude. Eddie had left a nervous Venom with Anne and Dan, but he couldn't risk another MRI with the symbiote so weak. He didn't know if they would be able to detect Venom physically but they had a very solid mental presence. Usually, it sat sort of under and within Eddie's mental space which is why he didn't notice it at first. Venom felt a lot like they looked, viscous and dark. It was hard to know exactly what it felt like from an external perspective, but Eddie could feel Venom almost disappear into the wet mud of his mentalscape. 

It surged forward when Venom was distressed, sliding through Eddie's mind and protectively around him, just like they covered him with their body. Like two puddles constantly swallowing each other, distinctly different but somehow exactly the same. He couldn't risk other guides finding out about Venom. 

The exam itself turned out fruitful for him, if not for the SGC. The Center doctor discovered that he had a chemical deficiency, something called phenylethylamine, which was a vital stimulant in the central nervous system. He got some recommendations for supplements and foods high in the chemical, which turned out to be a lot of the foods Venom liked best, including chocolate. The next exam a month later had shown no such deficiency and they no longer felt like their hunger would eat a hole through Eddie's stomach.

**Eddie.**

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, we can't hunt right now but let me pop some pills and we'll go out for sushi tonight."

**Better live.**

"I know but you remember what I said, right?"

**Cannibalism is frowned upon by your species.**

"Exactly!" 

**It's not technically cannibalism. We're not human.**

"Well, I am!" Eddie stood up, walking the few feet toward the kitchen. He dry-swallowed half a dozen large white pills. It was way more than the recommended dose but the phenylethylamine pills were non-prescription supplements. Nobody would know except him, Venom and sort of Anne and Dan. Besides, most people weren't trying to feed themselves using vitamin supplements.

**Sounds way less fun than hunting.**

"Everything sounds less fun than hunting to you," Eddie said, "Are you feeling better?"

**Yes.**

They sounded sullen about it. Eddie sighed and walked back over to his laptop.

"Sorry, V, I wish I could let you do whatever but we can't get caught."

**We know. If we are to live here together, we must camouflage.**

It was interesting how Venom thought of things mostly in terms of prey and hunter. Humans were predators to but civilization had dulled those senses in many ways. Eddie wondered if humans would be at all similar to symbiotes if they hadn't collectively moved away from that mindset.

**In some ways.**

"What do you mean?" he asked.

**Every creature everywhere wants to survive at the most basic impulse but your instincts are different than ours.**

"You think?"

**We know. Klyntar-.**

"Klyntar? Is that your species?" 

**Yes.**

"Are they all from the asteroid Drake found you all in?"

**No. That was a scout force.**

"Scout force? Scouting what?"

**New places to feed and multiply. Not sure if we would have found your planet without Drake but we would have found something eventually.**

"And you lived that way?" he asked, appalled, "Just move, eat and move on?"

**Yes.**

Eddie swallowed. Venom was the best thing in his life since the breakup. He decided during that fight with Drake and Riot that he was in it for the long haul. Sometimes he forgot just how alien his new friend was. He almost left it there but there were things he had to know.

"Did you enjoy it?"

 **Yes** ... **and no.**

The admission sounded like it hurt the symbiote but Eddie could only sag in relief. 

**I enjoyed feeling strong. And powerful. But the pain as my imperfect hosts wasted away in agony...I should have enjoyed that. Riot did.**

Eddie shivered. All he could think about was that awful moment Riot had _absorbed_ them. The pressure of them trying to crush Venom and Eddie out of existence. They had only survived when Eddie lashed out mentally in a panic. He hadn't even hit Riot. But Drake was human and had the same instinct all humans had, even mundanes. He'd slapped the big red button that said 'GUIDE IN DANGER' and Riot had to spit them both out in shock. 

Something wrapped around his hand. He looked down to watch Venom's tendrils slide between his fingers.

 **We told you we were a loser. We wanted more. A partner. Not just a temporary ride. The others told us that instinct was wrong. But we see it in you**.

"Grouping up is how humans survived stronger and bigger predators. It's the foundation of our instincts."

**Yes. We see the value in it. You humans are poorly built. No armor, no teeth, no claws. Just pink bags of tasty treats.**

"Hey!" Eddie laughed at Venom's teasing tone. The symbiote's gravelly voice echoed his own.

**But that's not quite what we meant.**

Eddie hummed. He clearly wasn't going to get more done on the article he was writing so he saved and logged off.

**You are different from the other humans Drake gave us. Something more.**

Eddie stood, wandering absently toward the bedroom. He could get dressed to go out while Venom figured out what they wanted to say.

**You have an instinct beyond theirs. Connecting you somehow to something beyond you. We don't understand-**

Venom reached out, dancing across his awareness. Eddie shivered, world tilting abruptly and triggering the desire to sneeze at the same time. His mentalscape spiked and rippled and he found himself sitting in a muddy pond in a forest tinted blue.

**Eddie!**

He slammed back into the real world at Venom's panicked cry. He felt shaky and weirdly tight. Venom rippled under his skin, which would never not be weird.

**Eddie! There is a predator in your room!**

"What?" Eddie stumbled slightly, looking around, "Oh."

Bernard sat on his haunches, placidly watching from the floor.

**Eddie!**

"It's okay!" he said loudly, nudging Venom with his mind. The symbiote's panic skittered uncomfortably. "It's just Bernard."

**Bernard? You've named it? Where did it come from?**

"I think-" he soothed, "I think that's what you were sensing when you said I was connected to something else. Remember when I explained Sentinels and Guides?"

**Yes.**

"He's a part of it. There's no real scientific explanation for them. He's my spirit guide."

**Spirit guide?**

"Yeah. Every Gifted has one. It's our connection to the spirit world. They're supposed to represent our souls. They're not detectable by any known means."

**How do you know they exist then?**

"Fair point. It's kind of the same way we sense each other. Any Sentinel or Guide who walked in right now would zero in on him immediately. We can feel them, see them, touch them."

**Touch them?**

Eddie smiled slightly. He stepped forward. Venom quivered uncertainly under his skin.

**_Eddie._ **

"It's okay, V," he said, reaching out, "We're part of each other, right? He's a part of me."

Bernard felt as real as he always had, coarse fur solid under his hands. The polar bear had been a comfort his whole life, coming to him in the dark and pain of Carl Brock's house. Venom stirred angrily. Child abuse was a foreign concept to them because symbiotes did not raise their young after spawning but Eddie's lingering fear and pain stirred a desire to bite the head off of the source of it.

Literally.

Unfortunately, the offending human was dead and Venom could not enact vengeance upon him. Instead, they focused on the feel of fur between Eddie's hands. It was strange to see and feel and smell something through Eddie that Venom's natural senses said could not be there. Tentatively, they slid a single appendage out through their host's pores, prepared to hit nothing but air. But the fur was still there.

The polar bear shifted backward, coming up in his hind legs. Eddie huffed at the sudden weight and Venom moved to give his host more strength. Black goo stretched around his arms and legs and the weird but familiar double sensation of holding and being held up enveloped him. Bernard didn't react. He just leaned forward, nose to nose and looked Eddie in the eyes. Spirit guides never spoke but often managed to convey their thoughts anyway. This, Eddie knew, meant _pay attention_. They stood like that for several minutes. Eddie didn't dare move. Bernard would let him go when the spirit was satisfied.

**Eddie, the world's gone funny.**

Eddie blinked as Bernard slid back down to four legs. He was standing in a clearing with a shallow pond in a world tinted blue. Venom shifted nervously under his skin. He could feel the symbiote's patience wearing thin like a frayed rope. They didn't like feeling unsure of themselves and wouldn't tolerate whatever was happening for much longer.

"Sorry, V," he muttered, "This is the spirit world. I don't know why he wanted us here."

Bernard chuffed and began to walk away. Eddie scrambled after him. The forest was calm, eerily silent except for his own footfalls. Coming here always creeped him out. One of his teachers had described it as 'feeling like the last soul on Earth even as a million people whispered just beyond your sight'. It was an adept and disturbingly accurate description. The spirit world had always made him feel safe but unsettlingly small.

**We don't like this.**

"I know it's weird, V, but Bernard wouldn't have brought us if it wasn't important."

 **We cannot feel our body**.

"Really? It's there, I promise," he assured, looping the symbiote's awareness into the tether he could feel leading back to reality. Then he had to stop Venom from yanking it.

"Not yet! Bernard will be annoyed if he has to come get us again."

**We do not like it here!**

Eddie winced. Venom had very little concept of an inside voice and it disappeared entirely when they were frustrated. They walked for some unknown time, silent except for Venom grumbling about everything from the trees to the bear to the sushi they were supposed to have tonight.

"We'll get it anyway! Even if it's 3 am when we get back."

 **We had better**.

Eddie snorted, continuing to stumble after Bernard through the undergrowth. Honestly, he was getting tired of the thick forest too but one of the first things you learned in Guide training was to never ignore your spirit guide. They always knew way more than you. Plus, he could never escape the feeling of sitting curled in his childhood room, a great white bear between him and the door. That pervading sense of comfort was well worth the frustration that he sometimes felt trying to interpret the spirit. 

**Eddie, are we there yet.**

He rolled his eyes. Eddie wasn't a parent and Venom wasn't a child stuck in a car so he wasn't going to bother answering that. Ahead, Bernard stopped just as the trees finally began to break. They were in a clearing, much larger than his pond grove. It was always hazy and dusk in the spirit world but this place seemed to glow with its own light. Crumbling walls and caved roofs filled the space, each one choked with overgrown plant life. Eddie wasn't educated enough to identify the style of the architecture but the nagging sense that he stood before something _important_ intensified so much he thought he'd choke. His lungs suddenly inflated like someone had grabbed them and done it for him.

**I did not save you from Riot so you could suffocate yourself.**

"Y-yeah," he stuttered, "Sorry. But don't you _feel_ that?"

Venom slid restlessly under his skin. It was a weird feeling and he didn't think it ever wouldn't be. Like someone stroking your arm but from the inside. They were clearly deeply uncomfortable but he got the impression that they were thinking.

**There is power here.**

"Yeah, that-"

**Power we can't fight. No amount of teeth or claws will help us here. We should not have come.**

"Wha-?" Eddie mumbled as he felt Venom seize control of his limbs. He fought back briefly but the panic and worry radiating from the symbiote's consciousness made his own emotions difficult to control. Feeling Venom's mind was an odd thing. They had a presence, solid and irrefutably _there_ , but the symbiote's emotions felt like they were coming from within his own mental space which had the unfortunate side effect of activating his own flight or fight response. He guessed it made sense since a symbiote that couldn't defend itself with the host's adrenaline response seemed a less effective predator.

Bernard huffed and leaped past them, crashing down between them and the opening to the rest of the forest. Venom growled, echoing both in his head and out of his mouth. Bernard just sat down on the path, seemingly unconcerned by whatever threat Venom presented. Venom tensed their whole body and Eddie could feel tendrils wrapping around him.

_V!_

**"What?"**

_It's okay. I swear we're safe. We can't fight him._

**"Why not?"**

_Because he's me!_

**"What?"**

Eddie signed. Venom had succeeded in encasing him completely and the weird feeling of being taller than he should always threw him off. He felt like he was encased in a suit of armor, except that it was alive and had a mind of its own.

**"Explain!"**

_Calm down, please._ _For me, V?_

**"How are you this bear? Explain!"**

Eddie took a second to gather his thoughts. Bernard began to lick his paw, not even paying attention to them. Something acidic rolled its way from Venom's section of their shared mindspace. It took him a second to place the feeling.

_Are you jealous?_

**"No!"** they insisted, **"We are us. You are us. How is this creature also us?"**

Eddie desperately wanted to tease the symbiote but he could feel their frayed emotions well enough to know it wasn't a good idea. He could do it later.

_It's not like you and me. He isn't literally me. But a spirit guide is representative of their Gifted. A reflection of self and a gate to the spirit world. Spirit world lore is largely mystical so most scientific communities ignore it when talking about sentinels and guides. But they have existed as long as we have. Sightings are consistent and constant throughout our history. Shamans, which are specially trained Alpha Guides, specialize in communicating with them to direct our efforts on individual and pride level. The_ _y're our souls and our teachers. Bernard wouldn't be doing this unless there was something we need to learn here._

The symbiote thought for a bit, wearily eyeing the bear. Finally, Eddie felt himself rapidly shrink. He stumbled a bit when Venom released control of his muscles but practice made it easy to right himself. He watched Bernard shake himself before ambling back past them toward the ruins.

"Thanks," he said.

**We still don't like this. But any part of Eddie is a part of us.**

That was almost sweet of them. Eddie opened his mouth to tease them but was interrupted.

**We reserve the right to bite it if we don't like the lesson.**

"Haha!" he laughed, "I promise to let you try."

Venom grumbled as the polar bear led them up a cracked stone path between the crumbled buildings. It seemed to be the main street. Smaller paths branch off between the remains of buildings. He saw what was probably houses as well as what might have been businesses. One building had an open porch upon which a bone covered anvil sat. A stream wound throughout the town, colliding with the main causeway every few streets. The road turned into a neat miniature bridge every time.

"What is this place?" he wondered. Venom didn't respond, still sulking, but Bernard huffed, turning to look over the water. Eddie stopped beside him, mystified as the huge bear swatted the water and looked at him. After watching him repeat the motions a couple of times, Eddie still had no idea.

"Sorry, buddy, I know you're trying to tell me something."

The best rolled his eyes. Sometimes, Eddie hated how intelligent spirit guides where. There wasn't anything quite like being silently judged by something that looked like an animal. Bernard hit the water again before reaching over to hit in front of Eddie. The water rippled for several moments before the slight current corrected itself. He still had no idea.

 **Reflection, Eddie**.

"Huh?"

**You asked what this place was. It is hitting our reflection in the water.**

"This place is a reflection?" he asked. Bernard threw his head like a human would their hands. _That's it,_ he seemed to say, _you figured it out_. The bear stood, starting back along the path. Eddie could do nothing but continue to follow.

"A reflection of what?" he hollered, even though he knew the bear wouldn't and couldn't respond with words. Ahead of them, the path ended at the entrance of a huge stone building. It was nearly three times the size of anything around it and although it was also covered in creeping greenery, the building itself didn't seem damaged at all. 

**What is that?**

"Don't know," Eddie muttered, "The ancient version of City Hall? Or maybe some kind of temple." 

Bernard led them through the huge arch into the building. It was an open room with no furniture that he could see. The support pillars were carved with elaborate, geometrical decorations. A stone Dias sat in the center, stairs on the entrance side. Bernard huffed, veering left toward the wall. Eddie took a moment to follow, staring around himself in amazement.

The wall itself had beautiful murals on the wall. They looked like cave paintings but none of the paint had faded the way it would in real life. The one Bernard led them to had human figures fleeing from what looked like animals. Some he could sort of recognize, big cats and maybe a hippo, but others were nothing he'd ever seen. One of Venom's tendrils slid away from his shoulder and pointed.

**There are more drawings, Eddie.**

Moving over to the next section of the wall, each split apart by a curved pillar embedded in the wall, he saw this one had two paintings, one stacked on top of the other. In the top one, the figures lay forward, praying to a central figure standing on top of some sort of platform. The picture under it had the same central figure, this time alone and with arms held aloft. 

"Praying, maybe?"

**We don't know. Why not kill the animals if they're such a threat?**

"We're squishy, remember?" Eddie replied, "An original human wouldn't win a fight against shit like lions and tigers and bears."

**Oh my.**

Eddie could hear the smirk in his Other's voice. He sighed, reluctantly amused,

"You should not be allowed to surf the internet when I'm asleep."

Venom chuckled at him as Eddie stepped around the next intricate pillar. The painting on this wall was much more confusing than the first two. The leader stood behind a line of people grouped into pairs. All of the humans' hands were held out in welcome. In front of them all, various animals stood in sets of four, two on top of two. The higher pair seemed only half-finished, hovering over the bottom pair with no visible legs.

"What?" he asked.

**We don't know. But your bear is coming toward us.**

Eddie turned to watch Bernard approach. He knew the polar bear was massive but every time they stood side by side, he was still surprised by his sheer size.

**I'm bigger.**

Eddie choked down a burst of laughter. Bernard gave them another distasteful look and he suddenly wondered if the spirit could hear Venom. The symbiote gave a gross, rumbling raspberry noise in response to the thought. Bernard didn't react in any visual way but spirit guides specialized in being inscrutable bastards so he wasn't surprised. Instead, the bear lifted up and delicately pawed one of the animal quartets. His claws didn't seem to make any mark on the stone or scrape the paint in any way.

"Is it..." Eddie hazarded a guess, "...a reflection?"

Bernard swiped at him. Eddie didn't bother moving, although he felt his body tense in the way that meant Venom was going to hijack it. The paw landed gently against his face before slipping down as the bear landed back onto all fours. He butted his head against Eddie's stomach as Venom slowly loosened control over their limbs. The symbiote was grumbling again but didn't say anything.

"Sorry, man," he said, "I don't know what this is."

Bernard poked the animal paintings again, this time with his nose, and sat back on his haunches to paw himself in the chest. Eddie blinked for a few more moments before his brain kicked into gear.

"Is this you?" he gasped, "Or at least spirit guides in general?"

The bear tossed his head in affirmation. Venom twisted in his head, suddenly alert, like they'd also had a thought.

**Eddie. Pairs. Pairs of animals and pairs of people.**

Eddie didn't respond. The idea felt important somehow although he couldn't figure out why. Bernard huffed, throwing his head toward the next wall. Eddie followed dutifully and this next one was the most elaborate yet. The pairs of people stood, this time backed by the floating animals as they faced the properly drawn wild animals.

**Spirit guides and pairs of people, Eddie!**

He gasped as finally, _finally_ all the puzzle pieces came together into one beautiful picture. He turned to stare down at Bernard.

"Is this…?" he gasped delightfully, humbled and awed all at once, "Is this the story of the creation of Sentinels and Guides?"

Bernard barked, jumping in what appeared to be delight, frantically nodding his massive head. It was the most animated he had ever seen the spirit.

 **A reflection**.

Venom's voice cut through him and his reverence only increased.

"A reflection of the creation of Sentinels and Guides," he breathed, "But why?"

He turned again to his spirit guide,

"Why bring me here? Don't get me wrong, this place is amazing, but why me?"

Bernard didn't answer of course but stepped toward the next panel. It was the last chunk of the wall before the corner and the other side didn't look to have any murals, although it was still elaborately decorated with carvings. This last painting had the Sentinels, Guides and their spirits standing in a ring around a cluster of houses and people. Outside the protective circle, animals gathered threateningly around.

**What's this one mean?**

"It's the core identity of any sentinel or guide. The genetic imperative, if you will," he reached out to touch the cool stone wall for the first time, "Protect the tribe."

**Is this why you objected to us killing people?**

"Sort of, I guess? I mean, it's also basic moral decency."

**But not bad people.**

"It's complicated," he said, "But bad people have already demonstrated a disregard for the tribe. Not all people that do bad things are bad people but truly bad people don't care about the well-being of those around them, which clashes with our instincts."

**Protect the tribe.**

"Yeah."

**This is what Eddie wants us to be?**

"I…" he swallowed, "I know I ask for a lot. But I don't want to _change_ who you are, okay? That's not how relationships work, symbiotic or otherwise. You have a say here."

**I understand why we hide. But this is what Eddie is. We are us and Eddie is us. We are what Eddie is and Eddie is what we are.**

Some nameless feeling welled up inside him. It was familiar from nights sitting on a couch introducing Venom to shitty TV and from nights spent stalking the bad parts of town with ears open for any cry of distress. From days spent touring new restaurants throughout San Francisco and days spent in their kitchen trying out new recipes Venom had found while Eddie slept. It had only been three months since they met but it felt like forever. Eddie felt the thought crystalize in his own mind just as he felt Venom push an identical idea toward him. They would not and could not live ever again separate from each other. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, they were together and not force on Earth or in space would pull them apart. 

Bernard roared triumphantly, loud in the silence and Eddie jumped. Before he could say anything, the world rippled. Blue bled into black and gravity abruptly reasserted itself, pushing all the air from their lungs.

They were back in the real world. Eddie was sprawled on his back in their living room. The lights were off and the room dark. The late afternoon sun that had lit the place when they left was gone, replaced only by dimmer city lights.

**Eddie.**

"Yeah, V?" he breathed.

**Something is different.**

"What's wrong?" Eddie muttered. He dropped his shields enough to feel around his neighborhood. There was no sense of fear or panic that could indicate distress in those around him.

**No. Wrong with us. Your chemicals are altering themselves.**

He didn't respond, already pulling himself down into his mentalscape. He flitted around in an attempt to figure out what Venom meant but he couldn't feel the minuscule functions of his body and Venom didn't know the human terms for all the things his body did. He had the vague thought of borrowing some of Dan's medical textbooks at a later date. There was definitely something different. And after a few frantic seconds, he found it.

 _He was bonding_.

The empty gap in his psyche that was meant to hold the Sentinel/Guide bond was _filling_ . But how? _Who?_ He hadn't spent any time with any sentinels after the Center had released him. Certainly not enough to be initiating a bond. _Who could he be bonding with?_

**Eddie.**

He stopped, suddenly aware of a slight sense of panic that wasn't his own.

**Eddie, what is happening?**

He scrambled to think of something reassuring but found himself stopping when he stopped to feel the bond itself. It was intimately, beautifully familiar.

It felt like _Venom_.

The slick, cool feeling of two viscous materials meeting each other, like mud against the unique feeling of Venom's flesh. It was the same feeling he had noticed when he first became aware of Venom's presence except that it was now climbing throughout his mentalscape instead of hovering just at the edge of it. His body reacted to, flooding with arousal in the next stage of the bonding process.

**_Eddie._ **

Venom's growl reverberated through him. He was helpless against it but he needed to help the symbiote understand before they did something they didn't want.

"Do you-," he panted, rolling to his side and curling around himself, "Do you know what is happening?"

**We are becoming one. There was a barrier to our joining but now it is falling.**

"But do you understand why?" he asked. Venom spilled out of his chest, head forming in front of his own as the black mass tangled with his arms and legs and hands. Eddie didn't move, just shuddering as the symbiote quivered in the crevice of his curled body.

**"We are us and you are us. There was a wall between the two halves of us and now it breaks before our eyes. What more is there to understand?"**

Eddie wanted to say more but he was so turned on he couldn't think. Venom's mass was pressed directly against his dick. The symbiote blinked at him, toothy permanent grin looking somehow soft and comforting. They moved forward and slid their long tongue across the sensitive skin of his neck. Eddie shuddered, moaning helplessly and curling tighter around his other half.

**Let us be one, Eddie.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentinel/Guide Center: Your true partner is out there!!! ;)  
> Eddie: How about no and I get a sentient alien goo instead?  
> Spirit World: Well if you insist. :)


	3. Chapter 1.5: A Romantic Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys! I promise I'm not dead and am trying my best to work on all my fics. As you all probably know, the world's crazy right now. I've been dealing with the retail industry's implosion over the last couple of months plus I just finished moving.  
> That said, this chapter is literally just porn. I wasn't gonna write it because I've never done it before but what kind of Sentinel AU would I be writing without bonding porn? So I did it. Tell me what you think! (Or don't read it if it makes you uncomfortable. I understand and it's okay.)

**_Eddie._ **

The human in question panted, rolling on to his stomach. One hand cupped around the slick puddle of Venom’s body cradled against his chest. Getting his knees under him was a trial but he was determined that they would not be doing whatever this was on the living room floor.

**_Eddie._ **

Venom sounded wrecked, deep voice rougher than usual. Some part of Eddie’s mind spared a single thought to the idea that Venom didn’t really seem to experience sexual attraction outside of their host’s body response. And their hosts before him weren’t really in any position to be horny as far as he could tell from the flashes of memory the symbiote had shared.

**_Eddie, please!_ **

He stumbled through the bedroom door and flopped unsexily on the bed, curling around the quivering blob against his torso. Venom undulated in response, pressing themselves accidentally against Eddie’s hips. Eddie moaned, muscles going loose and limp in pleasure.

**YES!**

“Damnit, V, you don’t even know what you’re doing,” he panted as the symbiote sent tendrils to grip his hips. Eddie couldn’t help but buck into the pressure. Venom responded by flattening out and pressing him down against the bed. Their head arched over him, tongue stroking down his exposed throat. He shivered at the wet warmth. Part of him quivered at the sight of Venom’s terrifying teeth but the little spike of fear only made his cock harder.

“ **I don’t,** ” the symbiote purred, “ **But you seem to have plenty of ideas.** ”

“Bastard,” he hissed, hands pressing against the bulk of Venom’s flesh. He could feel the mental connection between them deepening in a way he didn’t know he was missing. The unshielded bedroom was not the optimal place to do this. They really should be in the bonding suites at a Center but there was no way he’d be able to explain the situation to get access to one.

“ **Don’t worry, my host** ,” Venom crooned, “ **We will keep us safe.** ”

“I know. I know,” he breathed, “But you need to move so I can take off my clothes.”

“ **What clothes?** ” Venom’s toothy grin stretched wider. Eddie suspected others would only see it as a threat but he’d spent long enough with Venom to see the mischief hiding in their terrifying visage. He looked down.

“Did you-?” he stared in shock, “ _Eat_ my clothes?”

The front half of his shirt was gone, ends frayed like something had burned straight through. His belt buckle was undone and the fly pulled down. Venom held themselves by tendrils above him like a black, gooey cage.

“ **There are few materials I can’t absorb.** ” Venom admitted, “ **Mostly metals. But cloth is just animal and plant fibers. And organic materials are easy even if they provide little nutrition.** ”

“But I liked this shirt,” Eddie said dumbly.

“ ** _Eddie,_ **” Venom growled. Eddie reached up to wrap his arms around the thick tendril acting as their neck.

“Sorry, V,” he laughed. Venom growled playfully, flopping down against him again. Now that he was paying attention, he could feel where Venom’s skin replaced the feeling of cloth as his pants were similarly absorbed. Venom left his underwear and he couldn’t help but whine.

“ **Patience,** ” Venom rumbled against his throat, tongue and teeth scraping against his jugular and sending a thrill up his spine. Eddie shuddered, arms falling limply to the bed. Each touch felt better than the last but he couldn’t help but worry if Venom was getting anything out of this.

“Are you-” he asked, “Getting any pleasure from this? I know your species doesn’t really have a sex drive-”

“ **Your pleasure is our pleasure,** ” Venom said, pressing their face into his chest, right over his thumping heart, “ **Everything we do, every touch that pleases us. The pressure on our cock and in our mind.** ”

Eddie moaned. He’d never been more turned on in his life. Who knew that unintentional dirty talk from someone who sounded like they gurgled gravel was a kink of his?

“ **We do now** ,” Venom brought their head down against his ear, “ **Do you like it? When we say the things we want to do to you? How we want to touch you. How we want to please you so you can please us?”**

Eddie bucked wildly against the weight holding him down. He wanted to roll over, to _thrust_ , to do _anything_ that would relieve the itch low in his belly. 

“ **Not yet, pet,** ” growled his tormentor, “ **We haven’t yet cataloged how your body responds to each stimuli. We must know our host.”**

“Venom, _please_ ,” he panted. He tried reaching out again but found his arms couldn’t move. He arched, trying to look above his head. To his shock, he found that black tendrils, each thinner than thread but stronger than steel, had wrapped in an admittingly pleasing-looking lattice around his limbs and anchored them to the headboard. Venom had spread themselves across nearly the entire bed, an inky black mass he was helplessly trapped in. The covers were gone. Probably thrown on the floor. 

“ _Venom_ ,” he whimpered.

“ **Yes?** ”

“ _Please._ ”

Venom laughed and let their mass constrict around the human helpless beneath them. They pulled away after a few seconds, moving themselves to hover over him. The room disappeared, blocked by their form, leaving Eddie feeling surrounded and safer then he could ever remember. Venom’s head stretched out from the mass above him, licking one long, slippery line from navel to throat.

“ **Watch,** ” they ordered, sliding their head next to his own. A tendril slipped slowly down, tracing the band of his underwear. He watched, mesmerized as it slid inside and finally, _finally_ wrapped around his cock. Venom groaned against his ear and Eddie’s head fell back as he panted. The whole of the tent-like structure above him quivered as the appendage slid slowly up and down. Eddie tossed his head, pressing open-mouthed kisses against the cheek next to him. He might have hit teeth but he didn’t care. _He was so close-_

“ **Not yet,** ” Venom hissed. The warm tendril stopped moving, sliding away. Eddie whined, thrusting his hips a few times. Venom moved, sliding hundreds of little tendrils across his legs and pinning them down like his arms. 

“No!” he practically begged, “Please. We have to _move_.”

“ **But we’re having so much fun,** ” Venom said, “ **And you make such nice noises.** ”

Eddie could barely speak, nuzzling against whatever part of the symbiote he could reach. Helpless, he reached out mentally instead but that turned out to be a mistake as the mental connection between them solidified and the empty part of his mind became filled with **Venom**. It was a thousand times more intimate than the touches on his body and their mutual pleasure bounced around his brain. He was trapped in the connection, an endless wash of pleasure and satisfaction reflected on itself. It was rapture and agony as each moment brought him closer and closer and _closer-_

He came with a shout. Venom rippled, going limp against him in shock as their mutual orgasm melted them together. One single and eternal moment of being _one_. Eddie felt his shields shatter and he panicked but they came back almost instantly, stronger than before. Venom’s mental presence mixed with his own and he wondered if anyone would ever be able to find them within the muddy landscape of his own mind at all.

They lay together. Eddie panted loudly in the silence as Venom melted like putty against and around him. The intricate webs holding his limbs had vanished. Venom’s head was gone as well, leaving Eddie laying in a mass of warm, quivering goo. It probably should have felt disgusting but he was far too used to the texture and too sated to care.

**That was fun.**

He laughed breathlessly.

“Why do you think people do it all the time?”

**How do humans get anything done if they can do that all the time?**

“We don’t,” said Eddie, “I know you’ve read my articles. You know how many things end up revolving around sex.”

**We should do that again.**

“Now? Buddy, I think I should tell you about something called a refractory period.”

**Yes.**

Eddie opened his mouth to reply but something crawled up his spine and pleasure exploded across his brain. He moaned and felt his cock harden again.

**Who needs a refractory period when I can directly manipulate our hormones?**

He managed to roll over, assisted by the form puddled around him. Venom shifted, draping themselves around him like a blanket. The part of them on his back moved, shaping themself into something heavier.

“ **See?** ” they hissed against his neck, licking and nibbling gently, “ **Isn’t this nice?”**

Their form pushed and pulled, manipulating him to his knees. He panted, head hanging uselessly between his arms.

“Fuck, V,” he panted, “I’m not sure I can do this again.”

“ **You can,”** they assured him, “ **Just one more for us?”**

“Fine,” he said, “But you have to actually fuck me this time.”

“ **We were planning to.** ”

He moaned again as they symbiote chuckled darkly above him, form tightening briefly around him. Something yanked, pulling his underwear down his legs and ripping them away. They pushed, spreading his knees almost too far to be comfortable and brushing against the underside of his cock. He jerked but couldn’t go far as vices closed on his hips. Venom’s form slid around to his chest. They reformed their head beneath him, grinning up at him.

“ **Open wide.”**

He blinked, unsure what they wanted but opening his mouth to ask gave them what they needed. Venom’s muscular tongue slid between his lips, just like it had that day in the forest, and Eddie moaned around it. It played with his own for a second before sliding deeper. Eddie wanted to choke but found he couldn’t. He couldn’t breathe either. There was a brief moment of panic before he let practice take over and sucked at the appendage. Venom rumbled in satisfaction. They began to pull back before roughly pushing back in and Eddie let himself relax as Venom fucked his face. 

The wandering tendrils around his cock stroked lovingly a few times. He shuddered helplessly as they began to play with his ass as well. Dipping slightly in and pulling away to stroke between his cheeks.

_Don’t forget that lube is a thing, please._

Venom laughed, pulling his tongue away from Eddie’s face. Their grin widened as their face melted back into their form. Eddie wanted to complain because he’d been enjoying that but before he could say anything, the mass rippled and a thick, almost cock-shaped tendril poked out and filled his mouth again. He moaned, trying in vain to move his hips again but Venom had him pinned. A weight pushed against his back even as another yanked on his hips, forcing his shoulders down and his ass up. The position was embarrassing in the extreme but he was impossibly turned on by every demonstration of how much _control_ Venom had over him. How helpless he was to the symbiote’s every whim. He could push and pull and still never get away-

“ **Interesting,”** Venom intoned above him, “ **We’ll have to explore that later.** ”

Eddie huffed a laugh that turned quickly into a moan as something wet slid from the base of his cock to his tailbone. _Was Venom-?_

**Yes.**

The appendage he now realized was Venom’s tongue licked across his hole again, dripping warm, wet saliva with each touch. Eddie relaxed, letting them work him slowly open. Small tendrils continued to travel his body, stoking skin and even playing with his nipples. The one in his mouth slid out and he gasped, breathless little moans escaping him every few seconds. Venom continued with what they were doing, slowly working Eddie’s body with infuriating patience. Eddie wanted to scream and cry. His cock grew harder and harder. He _needed-_

**Shhh, Eddie.**

“ _Please_ ,” he gasped, “ _pleasepleaseplease-”_

Finally, after what felt like hours, Venom pulled away. Eddie whimpered even as Venom’s face formed next to him again.

“ **Look at us, Eddie,”** they commanded. Eddie turned his head, staring into the white voids of his symbiote’s eyes. Something thick and solid pushed into his ass and he moaned. The cock-like tendril immediately set up a punishing pace, pushing in and out. Eddie wanted to thrust but the grip on his hips prevented it completely. It was awful and amazing and he never wanted it to stop. He closed his eyes.

“ **No,** ” Venom growled and stopped thrusting, “ **We said** **_watch_ **.”

Eddie peeled his eyes open again and was rewarded by the cock moving again. It took everything he had to keep his eyes on Venom’s but the feeling of a cock pushing against his sensitive spot was well worth the struggle. 

“ **We’re inside your body, Eddie,** ” Venom hissed, “ **Let us inside your mind.** ”

Eddie reached out, pulling Venom’s presence into his own mind again. He felt the bond as well, growing stronger and thicker with each moment they remained pressed together mentally. Venom skirted across his memories, seeing Earth as one who had grown up on it. Each boring day at school and every fearful night in his childhood home. Every failed article and all the days he spent working on The Eddie Brock Report. He shared it all willing but something was missing.

 _Give yourself to me_.

Venom responded, letting Eddie into them as well. He was formless for a moment as he tried to make sense of their utterly foreign senses. Colors he couldn’t name flew through his head. Strange planets with different suns and multiple moons and fantastical animals. He knew many of them by the way it felt to use their teeth and claws to tear into flesh. Blood blue and green and yellow and red spilled on foreign soils. The empty cold, cold of space and the burn of Earth’s sun on their unbonded form. A body that didn’t have a definite shape, shifting and changing according to will alone. 

Stars burst behind his eyes as his body came and his mind slotted into place next to his Sentinel’s. No one and nothing could break a Sentinel/Guide bond and soon it wouldn’t matter that Venom wasn’t the traditional choice because their connection would be undeniable and unbreakable.

He flopped down, utterly sated. Venom purred against his cheek and inside his head. The bond glowed between them and it was everything he’d been told it was and yet so much more. For the first time in his life, Eddie didn’t feel broken and aching.

 **Never again.** **We’re here and won’t ever leave.**

“We’re here and won’t ever leave,” he repeated sleepily. Venom rumbled in satisfaction and pleasure as Eddie slipped away into sleep.


End file.
